The deadly shootings at Northern Illinois University took just a couple of minutes from the time the gunman walked onto a classroom stage and opened fire, killing five and wounding 16 more, and the time he shot and killed himself. Campus police officers were on the scene quickly, and officials posted e-mail and Web alerts within minutes, urging everyone on the campus to steer clear of King Commons and any buildings near where the shootings had taken place.
The campus did not have a system that can send emergency alerts to cellphones, though officials had been considering installing such a system. And an IT official at Northern Illinois told The Chronicle that he is still not sure whether the alert system would have added much to its emergency response. Are the systems worth the cost, or are resources better spent elsewhere? —Jeffrey R. Young
